Groundswell, a hopeful documentary on climate: interview with Josh and Rebecca Tickell

Groundswell took you across five continents. What drove the choice of those territories? 

Josh Tickell: We wanted to show places where radical regeneration was taking place, a real shift, not all the way there yet, but enormous when complete, in land, in people, in climate. Uganda and Kenya are two stories that could unlock sub-Saharan Africa, affecting one billion people. India, another billion. We wanted to focus on the scale, scope, and speed of change. 

Demi Moore’s voice carries the entire film. How did that collaboration come about? 

Rebecca Tickell: When we were working on Common Ground, she had just become a grandmother. She brought her grandchild to the screening and was deeply moved. That was right around the time we envisioned this global journey, showing that regeneration is happening everywhere, turning exhausted land into food forests. When people learn about bio-sequestration, that we can stabilize the climate through how we manage land, it gives them hope. As a new grandmother, she signed up. Woody has been with us since our first film. The balance between the two of them is really beautiful. 

Was Woody Harrelson’s line “this time, something is genuinely different” scripted? 

Rebecca Tickell: We worked together on the narration, but when Woody says he won’t give up because he has three daughters, that’s him speaking for himself. And Demi referring to herself as a grandmother, those were her words. Both of them made the script their own. 

Soil and regenerative agriculture are hardly dinner table conversation. Was it deliberate to make the invisible crisis the centre of the story? 

Josh Tickell: The original film was more climate-focused, but we felt that alone wasn’t the right entry point for all audiences. So we made regeneration the centre, with climate as a thread. Rather than the global climate, we focused on local climate, how you stabilize the climate of a place through regeneration. Restoring trees, plants, animals. People forget the animals but without them, the system doesn’t work. Then you restore the soil and microbiology, and that draws carbon out of the atmosphere.

Did any scientist push back on the level of optimism in the film? 

Josh Tickell: Always. Scientists study what is, not what could be, and what is, is naturally depressing. We always had scientists telling us to stay with the data. My answer was: the possibility is in the data. Over a thousand major studies on regenerative agriculture globally now give us a different trajectory. If we practice this on a billion acres, the climate crisis is addressed. The water crisis. The food crisis. 

Did anyone you filmed genuinely change the way you see regeneration? 

Rebecca Tickell: Every single time. Our first trip with our children was to a refugee settlement in Uganda, where a group of women called African Women Rising had turned barren land into a food forest. Our kids sat with children who had fled war, learning to grow food. Growing food wasn’t just nourishment: it was healing their environment and creating peace. To watch our children see that future so clearly in front of them gave me more hope than anything else in a decade of making these films. 

The film ends with Prince William introducing Gabe Brown, pioneering regenerative rancher. Was that constructed? 

Rebecca Tickell: Entirely organic. King Charles saw Kiss the Ground and it became his favourite film. He shared it with over a thousand people and reached out to Gabe Brown directly. When Gabe was invited to speak at the Groundswell conference, Prince William (having heard about the film from his father) was already a fan. He walked up to Gabe, and we were there. That was simply the natural trajectory after Kiss the Ground brought his story to the world.